Sentiment
by George Weasley's Ear
Summary: When Sherlock was seven, he was given a fish, who became his best friend. My first ever Sherlock fan-fic. Hope you like it! Rated K
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the TV show Sherlock. The BBC does, though. If you haven't seen it, I'd recomend watching it. It's _excellent_.

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'What is it?' asked young Sherlock Holmes when he was handed the glass bowl full of water and a small shimmery animal.

'It's a goldfish,' answered their butler, who had always cared for the boy and was the only one who seemed to.

'What does it do?' asked the forever inquisitive little boy.

'Well, Sherlock, it doesn't _do_ much of anything. It swims around and looks pretty. But I've heard they can be quite affectionate pets. You will have to feed it, though,' the butler said, pulling the little jar of goldfish flakes from his pocket and handing it to Sherlock.

Sherlock had never seen a fish before, or if he had, he didn't remember it. But it was a very nice and thoughtful birthday present. His mummy had probably bought him another tie. Oh, how he hated ties.

'Thank you,' whispered Sherlock.

'You're very welcome, Sherlock,' said the butler, before walking off to answer the door.

Sherlock wondered for a moment who was at the door until he decided it was one of his father's 'friends'. They weren't really Mr. Holmes' friends; he couldn't care less about them. He only had them because they had connections. This particular one had a powerful position in the British government, which Mycroft, Sherlock's brother, hoped to have one day. Sherlock found politics dull, as all little boys do, so he went up to his bedroom and put his new fish on the dresser with its food next to it.

The fish began swimming around and opening and closing its tiny mouth. Sherlock stared at it. It continued doing this.

'Are you hungry?' Sherlock whispered to it.

The fish kept opening its mouth. Sherlock picked up the fish food and sprinkled it on the surface of the water. The fish swam up and started eating the food.

'You'll need a name,' Sherlock decided. 'I can't keep calling you 'the fish'. Hmm.'

Sherlock thought for a moment.

'I'll call you 79. It's the atomic number of gold, you know, and the atomic mass is too complicated to constantly say. It would be really tedious to call you 196.96657.'

79 seemed to like his name. He swam around contentedly for a moment before hovering in the middle.

Hours later, when Sherlock got into bed, he looked at 79. His last thought before falling asleep was that it was a good day to turn seven.

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A/N: Bit of an abrupt ending there, I know. There will be another chapter. Just one other. I didn't want this to be a one-shot, so it will be two-shot. Oh, by the way, I bought some Swedish Fish. Yum. That may have been my inspiration here. Inspired by candy... Weird. Well, aaaaanyway, hope you liked my first ever Sherlock fan-fic, even though it was completely random and pointless.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I don't think I need another disclaimer as I put one in Chapter 1, so I'll just put the author's note here. This is a short chapter, and the last one of this fic. Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but my stupid laptop didn't save the chapter so I had to do it over. Plus I had school and writer's block. But I'm back now, so there will be lots more stories in the new year, and I might update the unfinished ones. Speaking of the new year, it's 2013! Can you believe it?! Worst apocalypse ever. Well, I think I've babbled on enough now, so I'll just leave you to read the chapter in peace. George Weasley's Ear... AWAY! *Runs off in the wrong direction and bumps into a tree* See ya later, alligator! OK, I'm actually done typing now... bye.

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Sherlock had looked up goldfish when he first got 79. He had learned that the common goldfish can live for up to 20 years in good water conditions. Once he read that, he started being very careful about changing the water frequently. He measured the amount of food that he gave 79 so he wouldn't have too much.

So it came as quite a shock when Sherlock walked into his room during the summer after he turned 13 and saw the little fish floating upside down in the water.

'79!' he screamed, running over to the bowl. 'No. Don't be dead. Please just be sleeping!'

Sherlock knew he was being stupid. When 79 slept, he hovered at the bottom of the bowl near his pirate ship. He certainly never floated upside down at the surface. There was only one logical explanation that Sherlock could think of.

79 was dead.

Sherlock knew that was the answer, but he did not want to believe it. He could not believe it. 79 was his friend. He was only a goldfish, but 79 was the only friend he'd ever had. The other children had shunned him since he started school, and he had stopped caring after a few years. 79 didn't know English or anything- of course he didn't; he was a fish- but Sherlock felt as though he could tell 79 anything.

Sherlock collapsed onto his bed and began to cry like a little child. It felt strange and unnatural as he hadn't cried in years. The last time he had cried this much he did not remember. It must have been a very long time ago.

_Crying over a fish,_ Sherlock thought bitterly. _How stupid._

The words, 'people do get so sentimental about their pets,' popped into his head. He didn't know where he'd heard that before, but it felt like he had.

Sentiment. Sherlock had dismissed that as useless years ago. He had never thought he was sentimental before. He had cared about 79, he knew, but he didn't realise he cared this much until now.

Sherlock decided from that point on that he didn't want to care about anything. It would be easier on him to lose something if he did not care. Sherlock Holmes stopped caring completely (or he thought he did) then.


End file.
